PLEASE DO NOT HAVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WITH GIBBONS!
There are numerous gibbons being used as tourist attractions on Phuket. By paying to have your photo taken with a gibbon you are helping these people to reduce the numbers of wild gibbons and cause suffering to this beautiful animal.Gibbons ensure the health and vitality of the rainforests in which they live. Therefore, their survival must be ensured far into the future. Gibbons are threatened by loss of habitat, but also increasingly, by hunting and the illegal pet market. Remember, each cute baby gibbon you see at a market or beach had its mother shot dead by poachers. This loss destroys the family group forever.
This is where you can help. Don’t have your photograph taken with a gibbon or use the bars they are kept in and don’t buy baby gibbons anywhere. Report any poaching activity seen or heard to the National Park Headquarters or the Natural Resources and Environment Crime Division (forest@royalthaipolice.go.th). You can report it directly to DNP through their website http://www.dnp.go.th/complain/index.asp If we work together we can try and stop this trade.
When gibbons reach sexual maturity at six or seven years old, they develop large canines and become aggressive. At this stage they may be dumped or killed. Some owners will give the gibbons to organisations like us or to The National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department when they reach sexual maturity. They will then acquire a new baby gibbon which will be easier to handle and more attractive to tourists. If they do decide to keep the gibbons, they may file down or remove their canines and then place the gibbon in a tiny cage or chain it up.
Read more about the Phuket Gibbon Rehabilitation Project and how to support that project on their website: http://www.gibbonproject.org/